Are Phone-Free Dance Floors Going Mainstream? | Beatportal

Beatport surveys the groundswell of opinion against camera phone use on the dance floor. As no-phone policies spread to Ibiza, is dance music ready for a retro reset?

Back in June, a meme was doing the rounds that captured the arms-outstretched joy of raving at Ibiza’s iconic DC-10 in 2010 vs the reality of 2024: a frozen sea of people holding up their smartphones. Granted, they could be on the brink of banking a lethal, bone-shaking drop to memory, but the vibes are non-existent because no one is dancing. Sadly, this is an all-too-familiar sight in the big-bucks clubbing arena these days; clubber buys ticket to party, only to experience said party through phone. Whatever happened to living in the moment?

If there’s one thing we can all no doubt agree on it’s that we spend too much time glued to our phones. According to statistics from Data Reportal, the average person in the UK clocks up around three hours of smartphone usage every day while recent research shows 61% of people worldwide admit to having a screen addiction. Sure, unplugging yourself from time to time can be a healthy antidote to doomscrolling. But given that many of us document our lives with our phones, how would you feel about leaving your little vibe-killer in your pocket at a party? What if your favourite DJ was playing? Is it simply a case of ‘pics or it didn’t happen’, or are you ready to take a leap into the brave new world of phone-free dance floors?

For years, no-photo policies have remained the preserve of more media-averse clubs such as Berghain, notorious for its sticker-over-the-camera rule that bars club-goers from getting snap-happy inside; a practice not always welcomed or respected by its patrons. Over in the UK, East London club Fold has maintained a no-phones on the floor rule since it opened in 2018 while Brixton favourite Phonox requests you to “refrain from taking photos and videos in the club”. In 2021, fabric introduced their first official ‘no unauthorised photo or video policy’, which “removes the distraction – even if just for a few hours – and allows you to focus on what matters, the music,” as they wrote at the time. On a practical level, phone-free policies assume a sliding scale from strict i.e. lockable phone pouches like Yondr — which requires you to hand in your device at the start of an event—to camera stickers, or even a polite implication. Miami’s Club Space provided revellers with pouches in which to securely store their phones as part of its pre-hiatus 24-hour bash in the spring.Indeed, the sanctity and privacy of the club as a safe, nurturing haven for both community and anonymity makes a strong case for the camera ban. No one wants to be papped by someone else’s flash. “Clubs should be spaces of release, liberation, and connection,” agrees Lisbon-based DJ Chima Isaaro. “The presence of phones on the dance floor interferes with this by creating barriers to true self-expression. Dance floors should allow people to let go of their inhibitions and express themselves freely, and the presence of phones — especially with the ever-present risk of social media scrutiny — makes that harder for a lot of people.”

In June, Isaaro played at Portugal’s Waking Life; a European festival that year featured DJ sets from Chez Damier, Moritz von Ozwald, Magda and many more, and has taken a stance against filming on the dance floor since its first edition in 2017. The festival cites “privacy for liberation and expression” under the banner of ‘guidance’ on its website. And it looks like the practice is spreading to other festivals and parties now too, including Amsterdam all-dayer No Art, Lane 8’s This Never Happened series and the multi-genre Over Yondr festival in Greene County, New York. Meanwhile, a flurry of top-name DJs and artists — from Alicia Keys and Bob Dylan to Carl Cox — have begun asking gig-goers to put down their screens and immerse themselves fully in the music.

This wave of anti-phone sentiment has caught on in the wider dance music community, too. In August, French DJ and producer Bob Sinclar played what he described as ‘the worst gig of his entire career’ in Mykonos, Greece. “People didn’t move; they were constantly filming with their phones,” he shared on Instagram. The “Love Generation” hit-maker’s rebuke came with an appeal to ban phones on the dance floor that has since been put into practice by a number of high-profile events artists, including James Hype and Meduza, Solomun, and Tale of Us — whose Afterlife event series features a visual spectacle of a giant floating human that was practically made for Instagram but was slapped with a phone ban at their recent Hï Ibiza residency—as the backlash against phone overuse goes mainstream.

It may have taken a while to catch on, relatively speaking, but the ever-growing trend for phone-free clubbing has begun its journey toward Ibiza. In August, Ibizan clubbing institution Pikes took the forward-thinking step of announcing a new seven-night-a-week policy that “ever-so-kindly” asks attendees to refrain from filming or using their cameras on the dance floor. They described it as “the start of a positive shift in the way people experience parties in Ibiza”, after first road-testing the practice on Monday nights, inspired by their legendary ‘90s-era Manumission events. Meanwhile, another legendary White Isle nightspot, Hï Ibiza — considered one of the best clubs in the world — introduced the concept of phone banning to its punters this year. Starting in May, Crosstown Rebels boss Damian Lazarus became the first DJ to implement the trailblazing new policy in the Hï Ibiza Club room as part of his joint residency with Black Coffee.

Speaking to Beatportal over email, Lazarus says he had been dropping the track “Damn Phones” by Dino DZ in his sets since 2022 as a hint to “put your damn phones down and start dancing,” (as the lyrics go), but last year decided to take more drastic action. “It really had become a big issue for me; I was finding the phones in the air super disruptive to my flow when DJing. I'm trying to make a real connection with the dance floor, and every time I look up there are people with their hands in the air filming something that they’re unlikely to ever look at again,” he remarks.

At the start of the Ibiza season in 2023, Lazarus shared his preference on Instagram for a phone-free dance floor. He made it his official Hï Ibiza policy this year. “Immediately, I started to notice a difference and across the whole summer, I’d remind people weekly on social media about it. On the night, I’d see the room responding to it really well. I was witnessing the people on the dance floor self-policing each other. Someone would put a phone up to film and a stranger next to them would tell them not to. It was quite something to watch,” he explains.

The initial reaction was “super positive” from people at all levels of clubbing, he says, and everyone seemed to be hugely in favor of the policy. “I was a bit surprised by the massive sudden interest, especially as I had been asking people not to use their phones during the previous season,” he adds. “Suddenly, this issue became a major talking point, which is odd because it has been ruining dance floors for years now.”

For Ibiza-born DJ Anna Tur — who played her first-ever gig at Space and started out as a resident DJ with the Pacha group around 15 years ago—the attitude shift hasn’t happened on a significant scale in Ibiza yet. But she thinks it’s only a matter of time. “It’s just a transition, you know, because you will cross the door, leave your phone and everybody's angry, like, ‘Oh, I want my phone with me!’ But 30 minutes or one hour later, they are more happy than being without their phone.”

Tur also points to the somewhat reductive nature of those nostalgic club memes. “In the ‘90s, we didn't have the internet on our phones. So you can’t really compare, because, if in the ‘90s we had this technology, maybe people would be doing it?” she suggests.

Beatportal spoke to a broad cross-section of DJs and clubbers for this article, with the majority championing the cause of phone-less dance floors. An Instagram poll on my own account showed a 60/40 split. “To me, DJing is a dialogue — it’s about creating a connection between myself and the crowd,” offers Isaaro. “When people are holding up their phones, it becomes hard to understand how they’re actually feeling or if they're even engaged with the music. This disrupts the vibe and takes away from the organic exchange that drives a good set.”Isaaro continues: “I also find it interesting how people talk about DJs. You often hear things like, ‘I’ve seen that DJ’ or ‘I want to go out to see that DJ,’ but rarely do people say, ‘I want to listen to or dance to this DJ’s set.’ It reflects how we experience the dance floor–people are focused on watching the DJ, often through their phone cameras, rather than connecting with the music and with each other. A place that’s supposed to foster communion and shared energy has become more about standing in your own space, staring at the DJ instead of dancing with the crowd.”

Whatever your take, it’s a given that modern DJs rely on the ubiquity of social media to help promote their musical careers. Particularly for up-and-coming selectors keen to get their names out there, the power of a viral moment cannot be overstated. There can be magic in a fan capturing a video of an artist's mind-blowing transition on stage, which can quickly rack up the numbers online and allow them to reach new audiences. In the DJ game, visibility reigns supreme, accelerated by the omnipotence of video streaming platforms like Boiler Room.

But, naturally, it’s about finding a balance. “I don't have a problem with people having phones on the dance floor as I think it's fine for people to want to capture moments,” offers London-based DJ and producer Dwayne Parris-Robinson (aka Parris). “It's nice to have something you can watch back to help you remember a moment. Admittedly, you don't want something filming an entire set but there's nothing wrong with a moment.” UK-based DJ/producer Anna Prior reflects this viewpoint. “I don’t believe that an artist should be dictating if a fan or party-goer should or shouldn’t be using their phones on a night out,” she says. “At my performances, I’d like to think a person should feel free to take home a digital memory from their night out.”

It’s hard to imagine the commercial superclubs or EDM mega-festivals of today travelling back in time to a smartphone-free utopia, not while social media wields the authority to make or break a career and image is everything. However, it does feel like the mainstream tide is turning. Maybe we’re all finally starting to realize how much fuller our lives can be if we put down our screens and surrender ourselves to the drop. After all, what’s the point of having mementoes of moments in which you weren’t truly present?

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